Christ on the Cross between the Virgin and Saints Mary Magdalene and John the Evangelist; left panel: The Agony in the Garden and Saints Peter and Paul; right panel: Saints Catherine of Alexandria and

This polyptych by Bernardo Daddi at the Harvard Art Museums, painted around 1334, combines the Crucifixion with flanking scenes — the Agony in the Garden, Saints Peter and Paul, Catherine of Alexandria, and Agatha — in the complex multi-narrative format of the Florentine painted cross and triptych tradition. Daddi was Giotto's most gifted follower in Florence, specializing in portable devotional panels and polyptych altarpieces that translated Giotto's revolutionary spatial and emotional naturalism into more intimate, tenderly lyrical terms suited to private devotion. His Crucifixion compositions typically show the Cross with the grieving Virgin and Saint John, the thieves, and the crowd of witnesses organized in the spatial clarity he inherited from Giotto. The Gothic frame structure — gilded pinnacles, cusped arches, and decorative ironwork — reflects the goldsmiths' craft that was integral to high-quality Florentine panel painting of the trecento. Harvard Art Museums' collection of Italian medieval and Renaissance painting provides an important comparative context for understanding Daddi's achievement within the Florentine tradition he both inherited and transformed.

This work demonstrates Gothic painting techniques.